Links, August 15, 2025

§Personal considerations for creating generative art

“Generative” as a term in art-creation had a very different meaning prior to the advent of StableDiffusion and such; “parametric” may be a better term. Regardless, this is an area I’ve played around in for 30 years: process as basis for artistic statement. This piece from Karsten Schmidt of thi.ng fame lays out some good principles on the topic.

§prefers-contrast

While I’m burnt out on web development, I still care a great deal about accessibility, and I didn’t yet know about a media query to help with it. Since it’s a media query that means you can use it in, for example, a <picture> element to serve a higher-contrast version of an informative image.

§Software Development at 800 Words Per Minute

Blind developer Dickson Tan gives a talk (with a transcription) about what it’s like to develop software using a screen reader.

Unlike human speech, a screen reader’s synthetic voice reads a word in the same way every time. This makes it possible to get used to how it speaks. At first, it requires conscious effort to understand. With years of practice, comprehension becomes automatic. This is just like learning a new language.

The capacity of the human mind’s ability to adapt will never cease to amaze.

§Friction and not being touched

I’m still tired of talking about AI, but this is such an excellent read:

The idea of frictionlessness has very narcissistic, “player character” vibes: You don’t experience friction if the whole world is build around you and your needs. When you get whatever you want when you want it. That is the Utopia of Frictionlessness: To never be touched by anyone or anything really.

§Ramblings

Ramblings channels let everyone share what’s on their mind without cluttering group channels. Think of them as personal journals or microblogs inside your team’s chat app, a lightweight way to add ambient social cohesion.

I’ve been on the gamut of functioning remote work teams, and this is a practice that respects what makes remote teams work.